Car-seal.



H. J. WARD.

cm SEAL. APPLIOATION IILEIDNOV'. 8, 1909.

987,083, Patented Mar. 14, 1911.

HENRY 3'. WARD, 0F PEORIA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WARD-DICKEY STEEL C0,,OF INDIANA HARBOR, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

CAB-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. WARD, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Peoria, county of Peoria, and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Seals, of which thefollowing is a specification, and which is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention relates to seals for guarding railway cars, or likestructures, from unwarranted opening, and particularly to sealscomprising a chambered head and a strap or shackle in loop form havingits ends secured to the head, at least one of these ends beingautomatically secured when thrust into the head.

The object of the invention is to guard against tampering with the sealin such a manner that an end of the shackle, after having been released,might be loosely inserted and tend to deceive an inspector by giving theseal its original appearance.

The invention is shown as applied to a seal of the type forming thesubject of Let-- ters Patent No. 908,186, granted to John F. Wing,December 29, 1908, and it consists in details of construction ashereinafter pointed out and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the seal before locking; Fig.2 is a longitudinal section through the head of the seal; Fig. 3 is atransverse section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a detail planView of the blank, one fold having been made; and Fig. 5 is a detailplan View of the blank unfolded.

The seal, when completed, comprises the head 10 and the shackle 11, allpreferably formed of a single piece of sheet metal blanked out as shownin Fig. 5, wherein the shackle is shown at 11 as being attached to whatmay be called the base plate 12 of the head, the cover plate of the headbeing shown at 13 and the retaining barb for engagement by the shackleat 14. In forming up the head the barb 14 is folded back on the dottedline 15 to the position shown in Fig. 4. The cover plate 13 is thenfolded back upon the base plate 12, the fold being across the neckuniting these two portions, which defines the width of the chamber ofthe head. The side flanges 16, 17 and 18, 19 of the cover and base arenow folded together to form a double seam. The flanges 16, 17 arerecessed, as shown at 20, 21 near the outer end of the plate 13, andthis plate is formed with a projection 22 of the width of the chamber ofthe head, the barb 14 being formed on the end of this projection. Theprojection 22 is provided with a pair of lugs 23, 24 which, when theblank is folded on the line 15, register with the recesses 20, 21 andenter into and form a part of the double seam, which closes the sideedges of the head, thereby securely interlocking the barb-carryingprojection 22 with the base and cover plate and preventing thewithdrawal of the barb by cutting away the metal on the line of fold 15.

The shackle 11 is shown as having an aperture 27 near its free end forreceiving the barb 14 as the seal is locked, the aperture 27 beingpreferably formed by striking a tongue 25 out of the material of theshackle as in the case of the Wing seal shown in the patent hereinbeforereferred to. There is formed in the base plate 12 a recess 26, solocated as to accommodate the tip of the barb 14 and thereby providingfor a sharper inclination of the barb across the chamber of the headwithout increasing the depth of this chamber as a whole and alsocarrying the tip of the barb below the plane of the shackle end andinsuring a more secure lock. When the barb 14 has entered the aperture27, an attempt to withdraw the end of the shackle from the chamber ofthe head 10, will cause the tongue 25 to become hooked over the widenedbase portion 22 of the barb. As the barb 14 is securely fastened withinthe head 10, because of the interfolding of its marginal lugs 23 24 withthe margins of the base and cover members 12, 13, this hooked engagementof the shackle with it, effectually prevents the shackle from beingforcibly withdrawn.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a car seal, in combination, a chambered head comprising a pair ofplates having their margins interfolded, a barb having a base portionhoused within the head, lugs formed on the base portion of the barbinterfolded with the margins of the plates comprised in the head, and ashackle adapted to enter the head and engage the barb.

2. A car seal formed of a single sheet of metal and comprising a strapor shackle, a head at one end of the shackle formed of a base sectionand a cover section, the one folded over upon the other and having theirbered head comprising'a base plate and a cover plate having interfoldedmargins, a.

margins interfolded, and an extension of the cover sectlon constructedfor hooked engagement with the other end of the shackle olded back intothe chamber of the head and having lateral lugs interfolded with themargins of the cover and base sections.

3.'In a car seal, in combination, a chamshackleadapted to enter thechamber of the head, and an intermediate plate constructed for hookedengagement with the shackle, interposed between the base and coverplates and'having one of its margins interfolded with the margins of thebase and cover plates. l

In a car seal, in combination,a chambered head comprising a base plateand a cover plate having interfolded margins, an

intermediate plate crossing the chamber of the head and having itsmargins interfolded recessed, a shackle adapted to enter the chamber ofthe head, an intermediate plate constructed for hooked engagement withthe shackle interposed between the base and cover plates, and a marginallug on the intermediate plate adapted to enter the recessed margin ofthe base or cover plate and to be interfolded with the margin of theother plate.

. HENRY J. WARD.

Witnesses: V

LoUIsK. GILLsoN, CHAs. B. GILLsoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, 1

p Washington, D. G.

